NC House leaders demand Chapel Hill-Carrboro report on student names, bathrooms
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- House GOP leaders demand district reports on name, bathroom and Parents’ Bill rules
- Committee sets Dec. 23 deadline and seeks monthly SB49 compliance reports starting Jan.
- District defends its pronoun and name guidance as compliant with the law
House Republican leaders pressed their attack on Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools this week, sending the district over a dozen questions about its Parents’ Bill of Rights policy, and student name changes and bathroom habits.
District officials must respond by Dec. 23, said the letter signed by three Republican co-chairs of the House Select Committee on Oversight and Reform: Brenden Jones, Jake Johnson and Harry Warren.
Jones, a Republican and House Majority Leader from Tabor City, posted the letter to X (formerly Twitter) on Friday.
The letter also demands a monthly report beginning in January about how the district is complying with SB 49 (also known as the Parents’ Bill of Rights law), plus information about policies and classroom instruction focused on gender, sexuality and critical race theory.
Critical race theory emerged as a topic in U.S. law schools about 50 years ago and looks at how race and racism are embedded in legal, education and political systems. Chapel Hill-Carrboro schools has provided teachers with training focused on race and racism, but it and other school systems have denied teaching students about racism, sexism or oppression of one group by another.
State lawmakers have unsuccessfully attempted to pass laws banning lessons on critical race theory for several years.
Jones and House Rep. Jeffrey McNeely, a Republican from Iredell County, said last week Chapel Hill-Carrboro’s state funding could be at risk if it does not comply with the law. State law requires equal funding for all students, however, raising questions about how the state could punish the district.
In 2024, former state Senate Majority Whip Jim Perry, a Republican from Kinston, also said the district might face repercussions, but lawmakers did not take any action.
School district spokesman Andy Jenks said Tuesday that staff is working on providing answers to the committee by the Dec. 23 deadline, but most of the answers were provided at the Dec. 10 hearing.
“Our training and written guidance to staff with regard to student name and pronoun changes always has, and continues to be, in compliance with the Parents Bill of Rights,” he said in an email. “Staff are explicitly directed that parents must be informed prior to making any change to the name or pronoun used by school staff or in school records.”
Decision to ‘protect our kids’ challenged
Jones launched a crusade against the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools in October after sharing an online, social-media video of Griffin responding to a question about the board’s 2024 Parents’ Bill of Rights decision.
The board voted to implement most SB 49 requirements, but stopped short of requiring staff to notify parents or making a name or pronoun change if a student fears telling their parents. The district gave staff detailed guidance for how to handle those situations.
The decision “was risky,” Griffin said in the video. “But we’re trying to make a statement, as well as protect our kids and our families. For us to sit there and try to wordsmith a policy that somehow legitimizes discrimination just seems ludicrous to us.”
Jones and other Republican House committee members interrogated Griffin and CHCCS Superintendent Rodney Trice last week. Jones said after the hearing that adopting parts of the law and providing staff guidance is not compliance.
The committee also attacked the district for website links to third-party resources for families, including books meant to help teach young children about gender, sexuality and sexual identity.
Jones read excerpts from three books on the list at last week’s hearing before throwing them to the floor.
“This is damn trash, pure trash,” Jones said.
How does district policy address parents’ rights?
Republican state lawmakers overrode the governor’s veto in 2023 to enact SB 49, including the Parents’ Bill of Rights and rules for parental notification and involvement in a child’s education and well-being.
Chapel Hill-Carrboro’s school board adopted most of the rules without question, including:
- Allowing parents to review and object to school textbooks and instructional materials.
- Allowing parents access to their child’s school library records.
- Requiring parental permission for a child to participate in “protected information surveys” that ask about issues like sexual behavior and mental health — except the federally funded Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System and National Youth Tobacco Survey.
- A ban on schools teaching about gender identity, sexual activity and sexuality in kindergarten through fourth grade.
The school board debated the final provision, requiring staff to tell parents if a student asks to use a different name or pronoun at school. Board members said the rule discriminates against LGBTQ+ families and could harm students without support at home.
The board acknowledged potential legal challenges, but cited overwhelming community support for its policy.
“We’re really just trying to send a message that this runs contrary to the welfare of our students, and we’re taking care of our kids, and the way we’ve been doing it is working for our kids, and we would respectfully ask people to respect that,” Griffin said.
How does CHCCS handle name changes?
The district’s policy largely mirrors state law, but it does not require parental notification in every case where a student seeks a name or pronoun change.
Instead, staff must encourage the student to talk with their parents and, if needed, staff can help with that conversation. The district provided additional guidance in 2024 that says names or pronouns can’t be changed without a parent’s permission.
Parents who agree to a change must submit an application to the district. The policy applies to changes that reflect both a different gender and a student who goes by a nickname.
Jenks said the district has not received any complaints from parents.
What about K-4 gender, sexuality instruction?
The district adopted a state prohibition on instruction about gender identity, sexual activity, or sexuality in kindergarten through fourth grade. It applies to information provided by school personnel and by third parties.
Initial media reports said the Chapel Hill-Carrboro school board did not adopt the K-4 prohibition on Jan. 18, 2024. Jones posted a Feb. 24, 2024, email from Griffin on X last week that also says the policy was not adopted.
Griffin did not respond to The News & Observer’s call seeking clarification Tuesday.
But last week, The N&O found the rule in the district’s policy manual under “Comprehensive Health Education Program” (Policy 3540). A subsequent review of the January 2024 meeting showed the policy update was approved without discussion, but school board members did not appear to realize the K-4 prohibition was adopted.
The board did remove a duplicate prohibition at that meeting from the Parent Involvement policy (Policy 1310), which addressed other parental rights.
On Tuesday, Jenks said gender identity, sexual activity and sexuality already weren’t part of the district’s K-4 curriculum before the state law was passed.
What did other school districts do?
Jones said in an online social-media post this week that the House committee might ask Asheville City Schools and Buncombe County Schools to address their policies next.
Buncombe’s policy requires staff to notify parents before using a different name or pronoun for a student in the classroom or school records. However, it also notes the possibility that “transgender and gender non-confirming youth may experience family challenges,” and requires school staff to speak with the student about their situation. Requests are handled on a case-by-case basis.
Asheville’s policy says only that staff must notify parents before using different names or pronouns for students. That is also the policy in the Wake County Public School System, Chatham County Schools and the Orange County Schools.
Durham Public Schools policy goes further by requiring staff to notify parents before changing a student’s name or pronouns, unless it violates federal law or Title IX protections against “discrimination based on sex, including discrimination in the form of sexual harassment and discrimination or harassment based on sexual orientation or gender identity.”
